A very young Carlton U13 team beat Penicuik in an exciting game. Carlton batted first, scoring 284 from their 12 overs with each pair contributing well.

Though the running between the wickets was a bit “hairy” at times it was good to see the boys trying to be really positive in this area and the more they play this type of game should help refine their judgment of a run. I think Craig and Kyle’s philosophy was that they would try and run two to each ball, a worthy challenge in half a games hall! With that in mind only 2 runouts from that pair could be deemed a good result, though the coach aged a touch during it all!

Some elegant offside drives by Euan were very pleasing on the eye and some dedicated practice on balls bowled to you on leg stump should see you make real progress with your batting this year Euan.

Haris’s opening over went wide, wicket, wicket, wicket! Two bowled and a great catch by Matthew completed a tremendous hat-trick, well done Haris! The bowling in general was a bit rusty but Rory bowled a very tight over in the middle which helped peg them back. Everyone showed a fantastic commitment in the field, throwing themselves everywhere, with Gair’s fielding at backward point saving many valuable runs. However the excitement of it all got to us a bit at times with us gifting them several runs through overthrows! Penicuik stuck to their task well, finally finishing just 9 runs short as Ruari held his nerve in the final over. Simon Whaitt batted and kept wicket particularly well for Penicuik.

Lessons learnt:

1. Calling when batting needs to be much louder, and there must be a call every ball even when there is no run – a good habit to get into. The only calls required being either a loud “Yes”, “No” or a “Wait”, then followed by either a “Yes” or “No”!
2. Haris showed the benefit of bowling at the stumps – if they miss you hit!
3. Indoor cricket is fast & hectic but requires calm thinking - a difficult combination. Taking half a second longer to assess things will result in better decision making.

A real team effort with great enthusiasm and commitment shown by everyone, which was fantastic to see, keep it going in both practice and games!

A much changed U13 team, highlighting a good depth to the squad, defeated Edinburgh CC U13s in the latest indoor East league game on Sunday. Edinburgh CC batted first and were held in check over their first 6 overs, only amassing a net 15 runs thanks to some very tight bowling from Rory Simpson, Neil Irvine-Hess, Chayank Gosain and in particular from Iain Martin who ended up bowling his 3 over spell for a net 11 runs and 2 wickets, displaying some nice late away swing bowling. Edinburgh upped the tempo in the second half of their innings but the boys continued to bowl well under pressure allied to some very committed fielding, which was great to see.

Chasing 258 to win, Matthew Wells and Fraser Allardice got the innings off to a great start. Matthew’s hard hitting was complemented by Fraser’s touch play as they put on 30 in their 3 overs. Iain and David Loudon continued the good work taking the score to 254. Rory and Neil showed the depth in the batting by adding 35 with some thoughtful batting and excellent running between the wickets. Kyle Macpherson and Chayank added some gloss to the performance in taking the final score to an impressive 316 and a well deserved win. An excellent all round performance by Neil earned him a well deserved MVP for Carlton

Points to highlight:

1. The calling and running between the wickets was much better, though there is still more to work on in this fundamental area of batting, an area that is often the difference in tightly fought games. Let’s be really LOUD, and a call EVERY ball!

2. Shot selection was better too, with only 2 dismissals in our 12 overs. Being able to recognise well directed deliveries that are a threat and then playing the appropriate shot will mean less soft dismissals, more time in the middle and more fun and success all round! Watch that ball all the way onto the bat!

3. Let’s keep working hard and thinking about the game. The better we do the simple things the more success we will have. A strong Grange side await us next and we look forward to testing ourselves against them and gaining more valuable experience. You are all playing positive cricket in all areas which is a joy to watch.

The U13s came up against a strong Grange side with both teams undefeated so far. Grange batted first and Neil and captain William Brown, playing his first game of the season, bowled a tight first three overs. Young Haris and Chayank continued the good work, the later picking up 3 wickets in his 3 overs including an excellent stumping from Matthew Wells whose wicketkeeping was of a high standard throughout the competition. Each bowler played their part in restricting Grange to 276, their lowest score so far in the competition.

The two Williams, Brown and Skinner opened against Grange’s potent pace trio showing excellent judgement and running in putting together 21 in their 3 overs. The second pair of Matthew and Fraser continued to edge the score towards the target with Fraser in particular becoming more and more adept with each passing game of playing the ball late with soft hands and using the pace of the ball and angles of the games hall to score well. Unfortunately Neil and Chayank came a bit unstuck as the 3rd pair and in trying to make amends for an early dismissal ended up gifting more wickets which put us a bit behind the clock going into the final pair. However Kyle and Haris, who has come on leaps and bounds in the competition for one so young, took the attack to the pace bowlers putting on 28 runs with some lovely attacking shots before ultimately falling 18 runs short in what turned out to be a hard fought contest.

As with the other two games I felt that the team performed a lot of the basics well in what can be a frantic game situation as well as again giving 110% commitment which is very rewarding to see. They also looked as though they enjoyed the heat of the battle too!

 Points to highlight:

• The bowling stood up well when Grange tried to apply pressure in the later stages. The boys continued to do the basics of line and length well under pressure which was very pleasing to see. If we continue to work hard during the season at grooving the basics of solid, repeatable actions then you will be able to rely upon your action when the going gets tougher and good batsmen start asking hard questions of you in pressure game situations.

• The commitment shown when fielding has been a joy to watch this winter. Everyone from Big Neil to the initially reluctant(!) Chayank has raised their level of concentration and commitment in the field which makes a real difference to the bowlers in helping them create pressure on the batsmen. The sight of scuffed knees and elbows reinforced how much effort the boys put into stopping balls hitting side and back walls! Fielding is all about attitude and hard work and a major aim this season is to really work hard at becoming the best fielding side in the league and to enjoy and take pride in the performance of this crucial part of the modern game. When we are all out in the field together is when we get a real chance to show what team spirit we have and real commitment to the team’s cause. Let carry on this great attitude when we get outside!

• The art of batting at an early age is much harder to master than that of bowling. With batting you have to react to different types of deliveries being bowled to you, having to make split second decisions over what is the appropriate shot to be played. Even Test batsmen struggle at times to play the right shot and most batsmen the world over end up getting themselves out rather than being defeated by an unplayable delivery. The art of batsmanship takes many years to try and master and it is very important when batting that you are aware of what your strengths and current weaknesses are so that you can then play appropriately for your current skill level. Young Fraser has made real progress in this area during these games. Not many players world wide for example can play like Kevin Pieterson and if everyone tried to play like him most would fail miserably!

At your young age you need to concentrate on doing the basics well when batting. You will get enough bad balls to hit but you must try and make progress in being able to assess more quickly balls bowled in the danger area and threatening the stumps, respecting that bowlers are allowed to occasionally bowl good deliveries (!) and therefore play more appropriate shots to those types of deliveries.  You also need to be honest enough about what shots you have been able to master so far and which ones still require more practice from you before having a reasonable chance of playing them successfully when out in the middle. We must continue to be positive when batting but it is through good practice and working hard on grooving the basic shots that over time you will be able to play a larger range of shots more confidently when out in the middle. Better shot selection will mean you spend more time out in the middle learning and enjoying yourself which is what batting should be about at your age.   

 Finally if you play a bad shot and get away with it then say a quick thanks for the luck, learn quickly from it before the next ball and then forget about it! It’s gone and there is nothing you can do about it. I felt that both Neil and Chayank got a bit down on themselves when batting today when they got off to a hesitant start, which meant they were no longer thinking clearly or positively for the rest of their overs.  There is not a batsmen who has ever played the game that has not got out many a time playing a horrible shot, so do not beat yourselves up too much about it when it happens to you! You are all very young and will learn quickly that one of the beauties of this game is that you must enjoy the highs when they come along and not get too down when things are going against you! Learn from your mistakes but then move on and try and remain positive and clear in thought. 

98 for 4

William Brown 30 (ret)

In reply the young Herioters struggled from the start against tight bowling from all the Carlton attack. All outfield players got a bowl excluding our considerate captain and it was pleasing to see Jack, Matthew and David taking their first wickets for the club as well as Craig showing the benefit of bowling straight by claiming two wickets in his only over.

It was a good start though obviously against Heriots younger second string. There will be many more severe tests to come but it was good to get started with a win.

Kyle and Craig then got Carlton off to a solid start against some tight early bowling. Kyle hit 3 well timed boundaries in his 20 before falling to a great catch behind the stumps. Craig continued to hold the innings together and coped well with the extra bounce before being given out caught behind off his wrist by yours truly! Sorry Craig! Its called character building! However William and Gair in particular ensured there were no more mishaps with some solid stroke play taking the score past the 62 required with a few overs to spare. A good test that we coped with well.

Lessons and observations

Bowling

We have a good allround attack but we must try and ensure we are able to do the basics well when under a bit of pressure. It was mentioned before we went out to field how important it was that we did not get carried away with the bounce and pace of the new wicket and concentrate on bowling a full length and straight. However I think we forgot that and got carried away at times with seeing the ball flying around. Against better batsmen we would have been severely punished for bowling the wide line and short length that we did on too many occasions. However we adjusted well towards the end which was pleasing to see and made it much harder for the batsmen to score as well as making William’s job as captain easier with regards to setting fields!

The end product of being able to perform with the necessary control comes from calm clear thinking about where you are trying to put the ball, and a simple game plan for the batsmen of basically trying to hit the offstump. It also revolves around putting in proper practice away from the games to hone the skills needed to perform at the best level you can. You need to be putting in good thoughtful practice working on improving weaker areas within your game and reinforcing your good parts and if you can do that you will reap the benefits I promise you.

Fielding

We fielded very well again in this game which is great to see. If your attitude to fielding, particularly when the opposing batsmen are batting well and asking some severe questions of you, is strong with good commitment then that reflects well on you as individuals and reflects well on your team. We remained focused and upbeat then when they started playing a few shots there were some great stops. Really pleasing to see and if we can couple that with tighter bowling we will do well in the field.

Batting

It will take us some time to adjust to the pace and bounce of the artificial but if you can all stick with it and between us all try and work out how best to play well on it, being brought up on such a surface will definitely make you all much better allround cricketers in the long run. You get real value for timing the ball well rather than feeling as though you have to try and hit it hard to get any power into your shots which can be the case when if we play on low slow grass wickets with inconsistent bounce. Ideally we would like to play on the good grass wickets at Grange Loan but the square is small and nowadays gets played on every weekend so we have to be realistic. However we definitely now have the second best alternative in this artificial which we are very pleased with.

As batters we must trust ourselves to really wait until the ball truly comes close to us for most shots, playing it later in its flight and underneath your head position. If we can do this we have proper control over the shot aswell as being able to get good timing and power into the shots too. Please try and grab hold of this basic fundamental and your batting will become more consistent and effective.

41 all out

Gair Currie 4 for 6, William Skinner 1 for 1, Haris Aslam 1 for 2, Iain Martin 1 for 5

109 for 4

Chayank Gosain 1 for 12, Gair Currie 1 for 14

101 for 5

Kyle Macpherson 30 ret, William Brown 30 ret

80 for 5 (20 overs)

William Brown 2 for 20, Gair Currie 1 for 9, Rory Simpson 1 for 11

81 for 4 (9.1 overs)

William Brown 29 not out, Gair Currie 14

126 for 2 (20 overs)

Rory Simpson 30 (retired), Fraser Allardice 25 (retired)

31 for 5 (20 overs)

Iain Martin 2 for 1

103 for 3

Kyle Macpherson 25, Gair Currie 21, William Brown 20 not out

62 for 6

Rory Simpson 2 for 5, Chayank Gossain 2 for 8

134 for 1 (20 overs)

Gair Curie 31 retired, Kyle Macpherson 30 retired, Wiliam Brown 30 retired

90 for 2 (20 overs)

William Brown 31 retired, Gair Currie 20 not out

138 for 2

Craige Everett 30 retired, Fraser Allardice 30 retired, Iain Martin 30 retired.

41 all out

Chayank Gosain 3 for 5, Oliver Brown 2 for 0, Ruari Macpherson 2 for 4, Euan Everett  2 for 11

65 all out

Fraser Christie 3 for 15, Iain Martin 2 for 10

66 for 3

Haris Aslam 18 not out, Ruari Macpherson 16, Chayank Gosain 11 not out